Howdy. Submissions for 2000AD opened up again back in September and are going to be open until the 1st of March, 2017.

I made a submission very many years ago, never heard back, but I decided this was the year to try again. Last month I sent off my four page Future Shock and I' really looking forward to hearing back from 2000AD.

Are any other writers (or artists) planning on adding to the slush pile this year?

Anyone on here who makes regular submissions? I'm curious to what the process is usually like.

I think I picked a good story to write. I showed it to my flatmate (who is a fellow writer) and she was surprised by the twist. Although, with twist stories, it's always tough to get them right.

I've made a ton of submissions to FutureQuake in the past. Sometimes I get lucky. Other times... not so much. But it's important to make mistakes so that you can learn from them.

Still, I've massively improved as a writer over the years since my last attempt, so maybe I have a chance.

Also, I'm headed down to Thought Bubble for the first time this year. Anyone else from the board going down to take advantage of the 2000AD Writing Competition or the 2000AD Portfolio Competition?

I think I'm as equally excited, as I am terrified, about standing up in front of everyone and making my pitch. It should certainly be a thrill, though.

I have long been a fan of science fantasy, ever since I was a boy. I would sit for hours watching Star Wars and as I grew older my interests expanded to classical mythology as well as other works of science fantasy such as Dune and John Carter.

A couple of years ago an editor called John Paul Fitch (who some of you might know) was putting together an anthology called Flux UK for an indie comic book company called What the Flux?! Comics and invited me to pitch ideas.

I showed him my usual superhero ideas; from the classic to the dark... however it was another idea which caught his eye. A science fantasy idea which I had pushed to the side and neglected. An idea I called Conqueror.

And as I returned to that idea and began to work on it again, I remembered the love I held in my heart for those classic science fantasy adventure stories and a vision for an epic saga began to unfold in my mind.

It begins on the far side of the universe where there exists a planet called Mar. This is a peaceful world. A land of pacifists. But a shadow is moving closer to Mar. A race of conquerors known as the Tivians are headed toward this world of peace. And when they arrive, a young boy by the name of Sandr must make a choice. Will he run, hide, surrender... or will he do something else?

Something entirely alien to his people.

Will he fight?

I've spent years working on this idea, writing scripts and planning ahead.

The Flux UK anthology was discontinued, but the folks at Flux were so impressed by what we'd already put together that they offered us an ongoing title. Conqueror #1 is planned to be released in the next few months.

I've been working with the talented Kean Kennedy who has generated the concept art and the interiors. The above artwork was created by Chris Meeks for our front cover.

Issue #1 in complete and we are currently working on Issue #2 but putting together a comic book like this is a massive undertaking. As such I am looking for other artists to contribute, whether it be drawing guest arcs (usually amounting to 40 pages) or backup strips (usually 10 pages).

I'm really passionate about this project and so I'm going to do everything I can to ensure it succeeds.

What the Flux?! Comics is an indie publisher, so the work would be backend pay (a percentage of whatever each issue makes).

Yes, I'm aware that what I'm asking would be a lot of work for any artist and success is far from guaranteed. But it is my personal beleif that you need to take chances if you want to get ahead. I love this idea and I want it to succeed, however I also recognise that this is a chance to prove to any of the larger comic book publishers out there that I can put together a product of professional quality.

I do want to break into the comic book industry and to do that, I must prove myself.

I have previously been published in FutureQuake #20, I have a story due to appear in Something Wicked later this year, two of my stories have been accepted into the Millarworld Space Oddities anthology and another two of my strips have been accepted into the Future Noir anthology.

If you're an artist who wants to contribute then please get in touch, if not, then we'd appreciate any other support you could give.

In the past few months discussions have occurred on both the 2000AD board and the Millarworld board regarding creating comics aimed at kids.

I’m sure when most of us started reading comics, we were children and it is a shame that if you look at the mainstream comic book market today that most comics are now aimed at adults.

So, wouldn’t it be great if some of us came up with some comic books actually aimed at children?

Maybe even a shared universe?

Emperor started a thread on 2000AD titled ‘Zeta Comics looking for kids comics pitches’ and IanBuchanan82 created a similar discussion on Millarworld called ‘Want to make child friendly superhero comics?’

I’d like to thanks those guys for raising this point, as I hadn’t really thought about it before. But plenty of people on those threads (including myself) thought it’d be a good idea, so now I’m trying organise things into a single cohesive project.

Maybe if we can develop some scripts of professional quality with art to match, we can take this project to publishers and try to gain some interest.

There are no guarantees but sometimes you take a risk, invest your time in something and it pays off.

Zeta Comics have posted on their website that they are looking for submissions aimed at children and What the Flux?! Comics have shown a little interest – although they are currently changing their policy so that they require three completed issues before committing to a project (as they’ve had problems with creators).

But that certainly gives us somewhere to start.

If you think you might be interested in collaborating on this, post below.

Over the past year I've been writing more and more comic scripts, in the hopes of breaking into the industry and in doing so I've grown to appreciate that there is a lot out there beyond the mainstream publishers.

The best small press magazine I've found is FutureQuake, but unfortunately they're no longer accepting submissions.

I was wondering if there was anyone more knowledgable out there who could tell me about other small press and indie press magazines, and which ones actually still accept submissions (scripts and completed strips)?

Okay, I'm an aspiring writer and I really want to break into the creative industry. I love comics and so I've decided to focus on them over the next few months, rather than on other mediums.

I studied Screenwriting for four years at university, three as an undergraduate and one as a postgraduate. I was even lucky enough to attend a masterclass given by Mark Millar at Screen Academy Scotland.

I have written numerous comic book scripts, sending one off to 2000AD at the end of June and sharing the others with artists so that I can work with them on preparing submissions for CLiNT.

But what else should I (and other wannabe writers) be doing to break in?

I know there are numerous fanzines and other small press publications out there, can anyone suggest which would be good to submit to?

I'm going to put some script samples up on the Millarworld board in hopes of attracting an artist (I have a few script which I was planning to submit as Future Shocks but they'd work for CLiNT as well).

If there are any artists on this board they should head over to the Millarworld forum, they'll find plenty of eager writers there.

It's an interesting opportunity. I hope I can find an artist to work with so that I'm able to take advantage of it.